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Survivor Series (2004)
Survivor Series (2004) was the eighteenth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on November 14, 2004 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio and starred talent from both the RAW and SmackDown! brands. The main match on the RAW brand was a 4 on 4 Survivor Series match, a type of elimination match, between Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Maven) and Team Triple H (Triple H, Edge, Batista, and Snitsky), which Team Orton won after Orton last eliminated Triple H. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) versus Booker T for the WWE Championship, which JBL won by pinfall after hitting Booker with the title belt. The primary match on the undercard was a 4 on 4 Survivor Series match between Team Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero, The Big Show, Rob Van Dam, and John Cena) and Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Carlito, Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak), which Team Guerrero won after Big Show last eliminated Angle. Several of the existing feuds carried on following the event. Triple H continued feuding with Randy Orton, and at New Year's Revolution in January, Triple H last eliminated Orton in an Elimination Chamber match to win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. John Bradshaw Layfield also continued his feud with Booker T, defeating him, Eddie Guerrero, and The Undertaker at Armageddon. Following the event, Carlito sustained a legitimate injury and lost the WWE United States Championship to John Cena, with whom he was in a storyline. Background The event featured seven professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from one of the WWE's brands – SmackDown! and RAW – the two storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees. The main feud on the Raw brand was between Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Maven) and Team Triple H (Triple H, Edge, Batista and Snitsky). On the October 25, 2004 edition of RAW, Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista) were put in charge of RAW, after General Manager Eric Bischoff took the night off. Triple H granted Flair the match of his choice; Flair wanted a rematch with Orton, as he lost a Steel Cage match to Orton at Taboo Tuesday. Orton accepted Flair's challenge, with a stipulation that if he defeated Flair he would get an opportunity to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. Orton, however, lost the match after interference by Triple H, giving the win to Flair, so Orton did not receive an opportunity for the World Heavyweight title. On the November 1 edition of RAW, General Manager Eric Bischoff scheduled a traditional 8-man elimination tag team match between Orton, Jericho, Maven and Benoit and Triple H, Batista, Edge and Snistky at Survivor Series. The winning team at Survivor Series would be granted absolute control of running RAW for a month. The following week, Bischoff concluded with adding that the winning members at Survivor Series would all get a week to be in charge of RAW. That same night, Edge and Chris Benoit were scheduled in a match, where Triple H, Batista, Orton, Jericho and Maven came out to ringside to watch the match. At ringside, a fight broke out between Triple H and Orton's team, which caused the match to end in a No Contest. The predominant feud on the SmackDown! brand was between John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) versus Booker T, with the two battling over JBL's WWE Championship. On the October 21, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long booked a six man tag team match involving Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Rey Mysterio taking on JBL, Kenzo Suzuki, and René Duprée. At the time, Booker T was a heel and congratulated JBL's success with the company in a segment backstage. The tag team match got underway, and JBL was led to believe that Booker T was going to betray Van Dam and Mysterio, as Booker T warned both Van Dam and Mysterio not to interfere with him during the match. The match concluded with Booker T pinning JBL after an axe kick, thus turning Booker face. The following week on SmackDown!, Booker T defeated Orlando Jordan to earn the right to face JBL for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series. On the November 4 edition of SmackDown!, JBL interfered in a match between Booker T and Orlando Jordan, which ended in a disqualification, giving Booker T the win. After the disqualification by JBL, Theodore Long scheduled a tag team match between Booker T and Josh Mathews versus JBL and Orlando Jordan. The tag team victory was given to Booker T and Matthews, as Booker pinned Jordan for the win. One of the primary matches on the SmackDown! brand was between Team Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero, The Big Show, Rob Van Dam and John Cena) versus Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Carlito, Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak). On the October 28, 2004 edition of SmackDown, Theodore Long booked a 4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match between Team Guerrero, Big Show, Van Dam, and Rey Mysterio against Team Angle, Carlito, Reigns and Jindrak. The following week, however, Mysterio was removed from the elimination match, as Long booked Mysterio in a Fatal Four-Way match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Guerrero was given a week to choose a member for his team at Survivor Series. On the November 11 edition of SmackDown!, Guerrero announced that John Cena, who was recovering from a storyline injury, would be joining his team at Survivor Series. Event Before the event went live on pay-per-view, La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Robért Conway) defeated The Hurricane and Rosey to retain the World Tag Team Championship in a match taped for Sunday Night Heat. Preliminary matches The first match that aired was a Fatal Four-Way match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship between Spike Dudley, Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio. After back and forth action, Spike pinned Chavo, after Billy Kidman performed a springboard leg drop on Chavo, to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Next was a match between Shelton Benjamin and Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. During the match, Benjamin got up on the ring apron and tried to take out Tyson Tomko, who accompanied Christian to the match, but Christian ran and launched Benjamin him off, sending Benjamin to the outside. Control of the match went back and forth, but the bout came to an end when Benjamin pinned Christian after a T-Bone Suplex. The third match of the night was the SmackDown! Survivor Series match with Team Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero, The Big Show, Rob Van Dam, and John Cena) versus Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Mark Jindrak, Luther Reigns, and Carlito). Carlito was the first competitor eliminated, as he was chased from the arena by John Cena before the match began. Rob Van Dam was then eliminated by Kurt Angle after a pinfall with a roll-up using the ropes for leverage. Mark Jindrak was then eliminated by Eddie Guerrero, as Guerrero gained a pinfall similar to Angle eliminating Van Dam. Luther Reigns was eliminated from the match, after a Big Show performed a chokeslam. Angle was the final member eliminated from his team, after an FU by Cena and a frog splash by Guerrero, which led to Big Show covering Angle for the pinfall victory for Team Guerrero. Main event matches The fourth match was the bout between The Undertaker and Heidenreich. Both the Undertaker and Heidenreich managed to get the upper hand in the match. During the match, Paul Heyman interfered on behalf of Heidenreich. As Undertaker connected with a chokeslam on Heidenreich, he proceeded to perform a Tombstone Piledriver and pinned Heidenreich for the pinfall victory. The fifth match was the encounter between Trish Stratus and Lita for the WWE Women's Championship. The match saw Stratus smash Lita's head on the RAW announcers' table. Lita, however, responded by hitting Stratus with a steel chair. As a result, Lita was disqualified, and Stratus retained the Women's Championship. The sixth match was for the WWE Championship between John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) and Booker T. The match saw both men take the advantage over one another. Orlando Jordan interfered several times by attacking Booker T. During the match, the referee was knocked out by JBL. Booker T managed to perform the scissors kick on JBL, as a new referee came down to the ring to officiate the match. Jordan, however, removed JBL from the ring and tried to hit Booker T with the WWE Championship title belt. Booker T countered by performing the Book End on Jordan. JBL then grabbed the belt, hit Booker T with it, and pinned him to retain the WWE Championship. The final match was the Survivor Series match between Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Maven) versus Team Triple H (Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Snitsky). Maven, however, was attacked backstage by Snitsky and removed from the elimination match. Chris Benoit was the first man to be eliminated, as he was pinned by Edge, after Triple H performed the Pedigree. Batista was then eliminated by Chris Jericho, after Randy Orton hit Batista with the World Heavyweight title belt and a running enziguri by Jericho. Snitsky was disqualified and eliminated from the match for hitting Maven, who had returned to the ring for the match. Maven was the second eliminated member of Team Orton, as he was pinned by Triple H. Jericho was the next member eliminated, after a spear from Edge. Orton eliminated Edge, after he performed an RKO for the elimination. Triple H was the final member eliminated from his team, after an RKO by Orton for the pinfall victory for Team Orton. Aftermath As Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Maven) defeated Team Triple H (Triple H, Edge, Batista and Snitsky) at Survivor Series, they were given the opportunity to be in charge of RAW for a month; On the November 29 edition of RAW, Randy Orton was in charge and scheduled a World Heavyweight title Battle Royal. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, however, overruled the Battle Royal match and instead booked Triple H to face the winner of the Battle Royal. The battle royal match saw Chris Benoit and Edge, as the final two participants, going over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Orton, acting as General Manager, booked a Triple Threat match between Benoit, Edge, and Triple H for the World Heavyweight title. The match resulted in Benoit applying the Crossface on Edge, only for Edge to manage to roll Benoit over, while the Crossface was still locked in, causing Benoit’s shoulders to touch the mat. The referee began counting, which moments later led to Edge to submit to the maneuver. The following week, with Chris Jericho in charge, Vince McMahon vacated the World Heavyweight title, concluding the match ended in a tie. On the December 13 edition of RAW, Eric Bischoff, who had resumed his position as General Manager, scheduled an Elimination Chamber match between Triple H, Edge, Benoit, Chris Jericho, Orton and Batista at New Year's Revolution for the vacant World Heavyweight title. The following week, Bischoff concluded with adding a Special Guest Referee for the Elimination Chamber: Shawn Michaels. At New Year's Revolution, Triple H won the Elimination Chamber to begin his tenth world title reign. After retaining the WWE Championship against Booker T, John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) was inserted into previous feuds with Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, and The Undertaker. The feud led to SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long to book a Fatal Four-Way match at Armageddon in December. The match was won by JBL, as he pinned Booker T after a Clothesline from Hell and successfully retained the title. In October, John Cena lost the WWE United States Championship to Carlito Caribbean Cool, who debuted on SmackDown!. As part of the storyline, Carlito was given a bodyguard, Jesús, who, in storyline, stabbed Cena in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub. On the November 18 edition of SmackDown!, Cena captured the United States Championship after defeating Carlito for it. Cena also debuted a "custom made" spinner-style title belt. Results Survivor Series elimination matches Category:2004 in wrestling Category:WWE for Extreme Category:Pay-Per-View Events Category:Survivor Series